


Sentience

by ivarara



Series: Maxis [6]
Category: Warframe
Genre: btw!! cas is max's cephalon!! i haven't really introduced them yet ajfkjbhkjsb, spooky boys make an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 02:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17479109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivarara/pseuds/ivarara
Summary: Max has a confrontation with the sentients on Lua. Fortunately, Mesa is there.





	Sentience

The scenery around them crumbled and slowly fell apart. The once-grand walls creating the elegant Orokin halls, now broken and missing large chunks. The golden rings encircling the landscape are now broken, leaving jagged surfaces. The desolate landscape of the moon mingles with the shattered   
remains of the golden halls and buildings that once reigned there.

The silence is broken by footsteps.

“You shouldn’t have wandered off,” the cephalon warns them. “It’s too dangerous to be alone like this. Your commander is going to be upset when he realizes you’re gone.” Their anxious voice continues.

“But I’m not alone,” Max counters. “I have you, and Mesa, and Trouvaille with me.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Cas emphasizes.

Max goes to respond again, but Mesa shakes her head and exaggerates a head roll as if she were rolling her eyes before she can. The frame is impatient to explore the ruined land, regardless of whether they were permitted to or not.

“You’re not helping,” Cas sharply retorts to her. Mesa stands and stares indifferently.

Max intervenes. “We’ll be alright,” she says confidently. “We’ve more than enough to keep ourselves safe if we need to.”

They continue on their way, meandering about with no real direction.

“Y’know, I heard there were caches hidden around here,” Max says after a period of silence.

“That doesn’t justify leaving the group. That’s a poor reason,” Cas continues to counter.

“It wouldn’t hurt to at least check a few rooms for them,” Max responds lightly. They meander through the halls and rooms, idly searching half-heartedly for the hidden rumored caches.

They don’t notice it until it’s too late. As they round the corner, they’re confronted by the floating, ghostly forms of oculysts in the room, idly scanning objects that they deem interesting. They notice the newcomers as they enter the room.

“You need to go now!” Cas snaps quietly at Max. Max is inclined to agree, and goes to turn away, but Mesa stands her ground and refuses to retreat. Before Max can reach and grab her, the oculysts wander over to the scene. They investigate Mesa, who sticks her chin up at them and ignores Max and Cas’ protests. The oculysts are quick to scan her, and promptly send for sentient troopers as they leave.

Max tenses as Cas frets, but Mesa doesn’t do anything to acknowledge what’s happened.

“Maybe we should head back,” Max meekly suggests, and Cas is quick to agree. 

Mesa still shakes her head ‘no’, and confidently awaits the troopers. Max   
joins Cas in worrying, slowly backing away.

It isn’t long until the sentient fighters arrive. They dart down from above, ready for confrontation. Max stumbles back and prepares to run back to where the rest of the squad is, where they’ll be able to handle the threat with sheer number.

However, Mesa is quick to react. She swiftly unholsters her Regulators and lays into the troopers, rapidly firing off as they stumble about from the impacts. She’s quick to mow them down effectively before any harm can be done.

Max watches from a safe distance as Mesa quickly deals with the newcomers. It was only a matter of a few seconds for the whole ordeal to come to an end.  
After a pause, she ventures, “We should actually go back now. I’m sure somebody’s noticed that we’re gone.”

Mesa cocks a hip in attitude, but reluctantly nods her head after a short time.

“Finally,” Cas mutters irritably. “We shouldn’t have even parted from the group in the first place.”

“We know, we know,” Max deadpans. They turn to head back, following the previous path they’d taken. It only takes a few minutes to reunite with the rest of the squad, and for a hopeful moment, Max is sure their absence hadn’t been noticed.  
Her hope is quickly quashed when Zus catches her eye. He doesn’t look too happy, even with a mask covering his face.

“Where were you?” He asks sternly once they’re in earshot.

“I told them to stay! They wouldn’t listen!” Cas is quick to interject.

“We just went…out,” Max answers sheepishly. Trou huddles at her feet. Mesa seems indifferent to the accusation.

“Don’t do it again. That’s an order.” He glances quickly to Mesa, who’d cocked a hip again and was idly twirling a pistol.

“You’re a bad influence.”


End file.
